Road to Konoha
by Shadow Fox's dreams
Summary: Kakashi, Gaara centric gen story. The first meeting while they were just children and their road back to Konoha. Bad summary. But give it a try.
1. Chapter 1

Beta: **Reidluver**

A/N: Story maybe a bit AU (timelines, characters….), on the other hand this is a fanfiction. So of course its AU.

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**Chapter 1 – Gaara of the Sand**

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Gaara ran as far as his small legs would take him. Leaving his home village, Sunagakure behind, he could still hear the villagers' angry shouts as they cursed his name. A tiny tear rolled down on his chubby, childish face. He didn't understand why: Why had Father wanted to kill him? Why did his uncle, the only man who ever loved him, want to kill him?

He thought Yashamaru loved him. He thought . . . he thought he wasn't alone anymore. His feet stuck in the sand and he started to fall. He fell down the side of the dune, but before he could hit himself he land on the sand which came to his rescue. It floated with him for a moment before it settled down on the other side of the dune, placing Gaara carefully on the sand. Gaara curled up in a tiny ball, pulled his bony knees to his chest. He rocked his body as his tears fell, and hugged himself, because nobody was there to hug him.

The night sky slowly turned lighter, as the sun finally emerged on the horizon, and with the sun, one lone figure emerged on the next dune. Whoever the man was he didn't came from the village. Gaara couldn't see the man clearly, because his features were covered in shadows. Gaara watched with rapt interest as the figure get closer and closer to him. He didn't take his eyes off from the approaching figure.

When the man was only a few feet away, Gaara could finally see that the man was a ninja just like his Father, or his Uncle, yet his forehead-protector had another symbol on it. Gaara's azure green eyes studied the waiting figure, he wore dark blue trousers and long sleeved shirt with a green vest.

Gaara frowned, Yashamaru mentioned something about this uniform once, but he just couldn't pinpoint what it was exactly. The man's face was mostly covered, only his right eyes could be seen. He could clearly see the kindness and concern in this abyss-like black eyes as the man kneeled before him. Wait, when the ninja kneeled down? Why did he kneel down? Why did he looked concerned? Maybe he cared? Gaara shook his head, because nobody cared. Nobody wanted him, nobody liked a monster like him. Nobody.

He was recalled to the present by gentle hands on his shoulder and head, the man turned Gaara's head toward him, while his one eye studied his face.

"Hey there, are you okay?" the voice was not a man's voice, but of a boy's.

Gaara didn't answered as he tried desperately came to terms of what was happening; why did this strange care? Nobody cared who knew him.

The man, or more likely boy, sat and plopped down beside him on the sand. "Ah, I'm not good in this." whispered the ninja, before he turned his full attention toward Gaara.

"I saw what happened last night. I don't understand why, but…" the shinobi frowned as if he was searching for words, like he wasn't used to talking. It was all right with Gaara. He wasn't used to talking either, nobody talked to him, nobody besides Yashamaru.

Gaara turned his azure gaze down to the sand. He had just killed Yashamaru. "I don't really knew why they attacked you last night, but I will help you. I could take you away if you want, that is." The boy ran his finger through his own silver hair, before he continued. "Nobody should treat a child like that," whispered the ninja.

Gaara felt his heart breaking, he felt a bit of hope that someone would take him away, that someone would care for him, but this stranger wouldn't want to take a monster. It would be better if he told the ninja the truth, before it would hurt in his chest even more.

"I am not a child, I'm a monster." Gaara whispered, his voice could be barely be heard over the desert's wind.

"Mhm. It doesn't matter."

"I'm a monster if I close my eyes. The monster within me will destroy everything!" Gaara snapped back his voice rising, the sand swirled around him in agitation.

"I see." The stranger answered and stood up. Gaara felt like his chest would bust from the pain he felt. _The stranger will leave me too_, whispered a desperate part of him. A single tear ran down his face. He would be left alone again.

"Are you coming?" Gaara's head snapped up, his azure eyes wide, the stranger didn't leave yet. He stood there and waited. Waited for Gaara. A small smile tugged his lips as he climbed to his feet, and stumbled toward the older boy as they started to walk towards from where the stranger came.

"My name is Kakashi." Gaara looked up his red bangs falling in his eyes, the ninja watched him intensely, his dark eye still held the warmth for Gaara.

"Gaara."

"Nice to meet you, Gaara." The shinobi's hand rested on his tiny shoulder, he could feel the heat that radiated from the other's hand. He tensed under the arm for a moment. It felt nice, almost safe. He relaxed his body and let himself enjoy the moment for now. Who knew how long will it last?

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_**Kakashi about 14, Gaara 6. **_

_**Be nice and tell me what you think about the story so far. **_


	2. Chapter 2

Beta: Reidluver

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**Chapter 2 - Copy Ninja Kakashi**

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He shouldn't have been there on an ordinary C rank mission. He should have been doing something more important, like an A or S rank like usual. He didn't really understand why the Hokage ordered him to take this mission. It was boring, and long and peaceful and restful. So unlike his others in the last, let see, uhm 2 years.

Kakashi thought as he looked up the blue sky, he really started to hate the sand and blue sky. He didn't see anything else the last week, but he finally finished the mission, so he could hike back home. _Right, 3 more day in the desert and plus a week through a dense forest . . . _he groaned. Life just wasn't fair, not that it was a new occurrence on its own. After losing everything and everyone who he ever loved or cared, he got used to it.

He plopped down in the shadows of the dune and remembered the old fart, the Hokage's word at their last meeting.

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"_Kakashi, my boy, I'm worried about you." Uh-oh, never came out any good if the old man called him that._

"_You do not need to worry, Hokage-sama."_

"_Mmh." The old man's gaze studied him. Kakashi tried to suppress the urge to fidget, like a child, but didn't quite manage it. "Your ANBU Captain agreed with me, you need to rest. But knowing you, you wouldn't even if I order you. So I came to a conclusion the only way I can force you to rest if I gave you an easier mission." Kakashi sighed in relief, he knew he would have went mad without doing something, the memories of his lost comrade still haunted him on every turn he made. An easy mission on the other hand, maybe a B, with a bit of bloodshed or dangerous escort…_

"_Here is your next mission." Hokage placed a scroll in his hand; Kakashi tried not to frown as he looked at the object. "You will deliver this scroll." _

"_What?!" Oops, had he said it out loud? Yep no luck there. "I mean it's a C rank mission."_

"_Of course my boy." The young Jounin frowned, it wasn't a mission he done since he was 6. Even when his teammates and sensei were given such a boring mission he always managed to get out of it. How his sensei hated it. A tiny smile tugged his lip as he remembered his sensei's face or rants every time he was able to evade a mission like that. He missed him, he missed all of them. _

_But if he was lucky, this mission could be done in a day or two, piece of cake. As if the old fart . . . Hokage read his mind the man added in an even tone. "Take it to Karum, it's a small village in Sand." Then followed the short mission._

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Kakashi sighed as he leaned back on the dune and contemplated the land, there wasn't much to see. Just dunes as far as the eye could see. Something vibrated in the far left, like a mirage. He turned his attention towards the occurrence, narrowing his eye to see better, but there was nothing. He frowned. He reached up to push up his forehead protector. His Sharingan eye came to life; he could feel as it started to drain his Chakra. But it was worth it, he saw it, saw that the mirage covered a city. His curiosity perked as he climbed to his feet, covering his Sharingan and started to hike towards the city. He knew he should go home as fast as he could but he was on a _vacation_ after all.

As he gcame to the outskirts, he spotted several ninja in the area. If anyone could see his face he was grinning like a fool. He knew where he was, the city was called Suna. He knew he needed to be careful, and not get caught. Even though the Sand was their ally it didn't mean they wouldn't execute him for spying. He saw several ninja training on the other side of the city. He could peek, with his Sharingan; who would he hurt? He smirked and started to scout the area where he assumed was the training ground.

When he came to a valley, something caught his attention, well a someone more exactly; a small red haired boy with his stuffed Teddy Bear clutched in his hand, and big lonely eyes. A faint shiver went down his spin. In his mind he saw a boy so much alike to this one. He watched as the boy helped the others to retrieve their ball and tried to join in. He couldn't hear most of what they said, only the words 'Monster' and the little boy's dejected face.

A flash of memory of himself as a little boy, being called such a thing. It was so long ago, so much happened since, so much loss and hurt, but this words stayed with him even now.

His head snapped up when he heard screams. _What the . . .?_ He pushed up his headband. What he saw made him gasp, red chakra leaked out off the boy in waves, it infused into the sand and the sand came alive. Lashing out for the boy. The incident was over before it could really began. The kids ran home, leaving the lonely boy with an adult.

He pulled down his headband and frowned. The red chakra usually meant demon. Someone had sealed a demon in this boy too. But the seal couldn't be completed, such a thing shouldn't have happened. His good mood disappeared. He took a last glance toward the redhead boy, before he continued on his way. He knew he couldn't do anything for the boy, its not like the boy was alone. He harden his heart to be able to walk away.

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The night was cool, Kakashi was happy; he had almost be able to forget that boy. He learned a few new jutsu, and was exhausted from the Sharigan. He yawned. He needed to get as far away from Suna as he could, and back to the road. That was when he saw that boy, sitting on the roof, crying his heart out. _I should leave_, thought Kakashi, _I really should go_. But something lulled him toward the boy's kindred spirit. Then everything happened so fast; kunai came flying, the sand protected the boy, killing the attacker and heard the boy's desperate cries.

Kakashi was too far to intervene, too far to help. The village went wild, more figures emerged from the shadows. The small boy sniffed as the new attacker emerged for a moment before he started to run. Kakashi moved towards the city but stopped before anyone could spot him, shrinking back into the shadows. _Damn it_. _Where the boy gone?_ He scanned the city in hopes of seeing the boy.

Then he spotted a small shadow not too far from his hiding place. He watched the boy's progress and monitored the villagers and ninja in the area, nobody seemed to intend to go after the boy in the desert. Or more likely where were so much sand.

He moved farther away from Suna, and ran ull speed towards where the boy disappeared. He could feel the heat of the slowly rising sun on his back as he climbed on dune and the rest is history.

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They hiked together, Gaara and him, about good half an hour. Kakashi could see the boy trying to keep up with him with less and less success. Without really thinking he picked up Gaara, the sand pushed up to his hand as if to defend the boy only to move back when it didn't sense further attack. The boy watched with a bewildered expression as Kakashi helped the boy on his back. After a time he could felt Gaara's body relaxe and rested his head on Kakashi's shoulder.

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	3. Chapter 3

**Thanks for the reviews, I hope you will like this part too.**

**Beta: **Reidluver**  
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**Chapter 3 – Bonding**

Kakashi sensed something changed, the sand around them, started to swirl. He looked down to see Gaara's chubby face reflected a bit of distress as the smaller boy inched closer to him.

"What's wrong, Gaara?"

"Nothing."

Kakashi sight, he really wasn't good with children, why should he? He couldn't really remember being one. But as a ninja, he became adept at reading peoples' emotions, and Gaara's slightly tense posture screamed the boy's distress.

Kakashi kneeled down beside Gaara, so he could be at eyelevel with the smaller boy. When Gaara didn't meet his eye, he gently took hold of Gaara's chin and turned up the boy's face. Gaara's azure eyes flickered over his face before the boy looked away again.

"Please Gaara, tell me. Maybe I can help somehow." Gaara mumbled something so softly; even Kakashi's keen hearing couldn't pick it up. "Sorry, I didn't hear it, could you repeat it?"

"My teddy."

"Oh." Kakashi looked in the direction form where they came. He remembered the raggedy teddy bear what the boy clutched in his arms when he first saw him. "I am afraid we can't go back for it, and I don't have any with me. But…" Kakashi suddenly grinned. He placed his palm on the sand as he called out. "Kyuchiyoseno Jutsu." A small dog with rich fuzzy fur appeared.

"Wow." Gaara crouched down to get a better look at the small animal. His azure eyes flickered toward Kakashi, silently asking for permission to touch.

"Go ahead, he loves to be petted." Gaara grinned and gathered the dog in his arm, it lighting up his small face. It was the first real smile Kakashi ever saw on him.

Kakashi really didn't understand why, but he felt warm inside since he met this boy, and every time he smiled it felt even more . . . warm? Good? Alive?? He didn't know what exactly, just that he wanted to feel like that again. He reached out to stroke Aru's fur, the small dog looked like it would have liked to purr if he could.

"He always likes to be petted; I think he had a bit of cat in him." He said the last in a conspiracy voice, making Gaara giggle. Kakashi couldn't help but grin too.

"You better watch who you call a cat," Aru growled. Gaara looked down at the small dog in amazement.

"He talks!"

"Yep, he is a Ninken, one of my summoned ninja dog." Kakashi said proudly as he scratched behind the dog's ear in a silent apology for his comment. "Come, we should go. We are not far from Suna's border. We need to buy a carrier to store sand." They climbed to their feet.

"Why do we need a carrier full of sand?"

"Well, I think the demon which was sealed inside you somehow connects you to the sand around us. It reacts tos you, protects you. I'm sure you noticed." Gaara didn't answered aloud, only nodded his agreement and pulled Aru closer to his chest. "While we are here, you have unlimited source of sand, but not in Konoha. There are slim to hardly any essential, pure sand. I don't mean you wouldn't be able to make some, but it theoretically would cost you too much energy and chakra."

"I don't want to."

"I knew, but we can't change the irreversible. But it doesn't mean we can't use it to your advantage. The sand will protect you. Of course, it doesn't mean we just let the demon have free rein, either. I heard about a Seal Master, my old sensei learned a lot of stuff from him, for example, how to seal a demon inside a body." Gaara's eyes widened, his azure gaze glittered hopefully. "I thought maybe we could make a stop to see if he could help."

They continued to walk in silence. The Country of Sand's border only a few hours away.

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Kakashi rubbed his shoulder; the sand carrier's strap pressed heavily on it. Gaara and Aru were running and playing tag just a few feet before him. The sky started to darken, the night was on them.

"Gaara! We'll camp here.," he called out. The red haired nodded as he started to run towards him, with Aru at his side. Kakashi put down the sand-carrier and his pack.

"Kakashi!" Gaara's pale skin was slightly pink from the exercise he made.

"Yes, Gaara?" He asked as he started to unpack their camping gear and food supply, he frowned; he would need to buy some more food. He didn't calculate in Gaara and Aru's bottomless stomach when he last purchased food.

"Would you teach me how to be a ninja?"

Kakashi turned toward Gaara, his one visible eye examined the boy for a few minutes before he smiled and nodded.

"If you want, but we need to start with the basics." Gaara grinned again. Kakashi thought about what to teach to the 5 year-old. What did he learn at that age? Mmh, it was throwing kunai and using chakra for wall climbing, if he could remember right. He mentally grimaced; it was highly unlikely Gaara would be able to do it just yet. _What did normal kids do at that age? . . . Well who knew, but most probably some meaningless thing likes playing. Ah, whatever lets start with something simple_. "Come closer. Good. Now I will teach you how to hit. Okay you need to stand like this." He fixed Gaara's pose and stance. "Okay now try to hit my hand." He hold up his palm as a target.

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The night sky always mesmerized Gaara; he loved to stare at the shining stars. Maybe one night he would be able to fall asleep while starting at them. He snuggled closer to Kakashi's body; Aru looked up at him with a questioning gaze.

"I am fine." Gaara whispered as he petted the dog. And he was fine, almost good, the first time in his short life.

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Hi, as you noticed the summary, well let just say not too good - I am hoping someone can help with it... Oh well anyway hope you liked the chapter. See ya soon 


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